Spears and Canes
by Cocolada
Summary: "You do realize," Anita started mater-of-factly, "That we two are the only girls here?" The unfortunate tale of a quarrelsome half-blind girl and her uptight companion stuck on an island primarily made up of boys.
1. Chapter 1

**Well guess what? I have written another one with like, I don't know, 98% less girls that the last one. I personally think this one is going to turn out rather shitty, but we'll see. Also, there's a almost-blind girl in this one too, but I'm not exactly sure how to go about portraying that but I tried. Let me know if I'm doing it wrong because I'm going one chapter at a time, which means more time to criticize each chapter. Also I don't have the book with me this time around either, so all I have to go off of is online guides and my other fic. Ages have been raised to 14-15, with littlun exceptions. Correct me if I use wrong slang. Alright, enough of this babbling note.**

* * *

The two figures stumbled through the thick of the jungle, clumsily brushing through the foliage and weeds. Their skin was damp with sweat and their clothing began to stick, for the school uniforms they wore were not suitable for such humid weather. The leading silhouette, slender and agile called out to the other, which seemed to be falling behind. "Could you hurry up? I'm half blind and _still _faster than you are."

The smaller one behind her did not reply at first, too busy gasping for breath and trying not to trip and plunge into the plants, which surely hid all sorts of disgusting insects within them. When the lagging figure finally managed to catch her breath she would shout, "Lucy, why don't you slow down? I can barely move in all of this. I think I just got bit by somethin'."

The taller girl, who was now perched on a flat stone whirled around to protest, obviously sick of the requests of the other. "If we keep stopping every five minutes we aren't going to make it out of here!"

Below her, the peevish girl whined. "But it is so hot I don't think I can move another step. Look, my blazer is already becoming tattered."

"No it isn't! It looks perfectly fine to me."

"Everything looks 'perfectly fine' to you, all you see is a blur anyway." She waved her hand dismissively. "Here, let me come closer and I'll show you." Unsteadily the girl got to her feet, straightening out her stockings with one hand, and still holding the edge of her maroon hued school blazer, limped towards Lucy, who was still positioned on the rock. Holding out the frayed end to her, she'd mumble, "Look at that, it's just awful isn't it?"

Lucy towered over the other girl, even more so now that she was elevated with help from the flat stone she stood upon. Peering down at the cloth, which was a hazy mess of red to her eyes rather than an intricate pattern of stitches and fabric, she squinted. Leaning down she would take a moment to brush dark hair from her face before continuing. Tentatively reaching out, she would gently press the material between her two fingers and move in a circular motion, feeling for signs of damage.

"I think you're making it worse."

With that she promptly removed her fingers from the article of clothing and stood straight, informing the girl, "Anita, it's fine. You're being ridiculous. Now come on, we've got to go."

Not yet ready to start moving again, Anita clambered to her feet. "Could we at least walk for a bit, then?"

Though clearly not wanting to give in, the dark haired girl would comply. "Fine. Quickly though."

Anita was glad for this change in pace and caught up with her dark-haired companion. Silence quickly followed them, with the exception of the buzzing jungle and the sound of plants being crushed under their feet. It didn't take long for Anita to start talking once more. "What do you think happened...you know with the plane and all?"

"Everybody died, probably." Lucy said dismissively, her tone indicating that there was a chance she was joking.

Anita was not amused with her macabre take on humor and scowled. "Some had to have survived, don't you think? I think that the back plane got carried out to sea..."

"Good thing we weren't in that part, then."

"Most of the girls were in the back though."

"Well, we aren't those girls."

Eventually the coarse foliage of the jungle began to fade, and they instead found themselves on sandy ground instead. Lucy could tell from the salty scent of the ocean and the smattering of yellow and blue she could see, that they had made it to a beach. Just to be sure she bent down and grasped at the ground, hand gripping the soft sand. The dark haired girl stood, the grains slipping through her fingers easily as if they were silk.

Anita, light hair whipping in the wind looked as if she were about to say something in return when a strange noise interrupted her. It was not loud nor commanding, more like someone who was trying to play the trumpet and was failing at it. Just a few moments later and the sound repeated itself.

Lucy was quick to react, and grabbed Anita's hand, leading her down the strip of beach towards the noise. Farther down she could make out two blurry figures. "Are those adults?" She inquired, hoping that it was so and they could find a way out of here.

"No, they look like our age." Anita whispered furiously as Lucy slowed to a walk.

Lucy was the first to speak to them. "Were you the ones who made that noise?"

The fair haired boy turned towards them and said, "I'm Ralph, I've been trying to call a meeting."

She was skeptical of this and narrowed her eyes. "With what, exactly?"

A rotund boy with glasses who was standing beside Ralph gently took an object from his hands and said, "With this conch. My auntie's friend had one just like it..." He began to prattle.

Lucy squinted. "Well how does that even work?"

The one holding the conch suddenly stopped speaking and pointed at a specific part. "Can't you see this part here? My auntie never let me blow on account of my ass-mar."

Suddenly she became defensive. "No I most certainly cannot see!"

Before anyone else could say a word, Anita who was aching to be polite fixed her green eyes on the two boys. "I'm Anita, and that's Lucy."

"Oh." The rotund boy then began to list off facts he knew about eyesight, talking about his specs and coming to the conclusion that she must be somewhat blind.

Which was true. Annoyed, Lucy began to correct him anyway. "You're talking rubbish, things are just a bit blurry, that's all."

Anita took a curl of blonde hair and pushed it behind her ear, and asked, "Kind of like how the mirrors get foggy after showering?"

Shrugging, the other girl responded with, "I suppose. There are a few dark spots however..."

"Don't you have a cane though? My auntie uses a cane, but that's because she has a bad back." The bespectacled boy informed them.

"I did, but I lost it after the plane going down. Not like I needed it anyway, my mum made me take it."

Anita whirled around to face the pudgy boy and told him kindly, "We still don't know your name."

"Oh, his name is Piggy." Ralph said gleefully, clearly finding it to be amusing.

This caused Lucy to burst out laughing, but Anita just clasped her hands together and said, "Oh. Well, that's...nice?"

The fat boy, Piggy as it were, lashed out at the boy. "I told you not to tell anyone!"

Ralph shrugged and snatched the conch right out of his hands.

"Be careful or you'll break it!" Piggy cried.

"Oh, shut up." And with that, Ralph took a large breath and blew into the conch fiercely. Anita shrieked at the loud noise, but nobody could hear her over the sound of the conch.

Soon after he stopped blowing, and the whole beach began to burst with life, human life.

"See any adults? Any girls?" Lucy prodded Anita.

"No, just boys so far..."

The fair haired boy began scrambling towards a coral platform, hoisting himself up. Not to be outdone, Lucy quickened and vaulted herself up on top. Piggy was the last to make it, just as all the newcomers came. The most obvious of them all were the ones in the black cloaks, marching along as if they were some kind of little army. When they made it to the coral stage the leader of them all climbed up and went straight for Ralph, seeing as he was the one with the conch. As if it were some sort of symbol of authority.

"Where is the man with the trumpet?" The boy, tufts of orange hair sticking out from his black cap demanded to know.

"There is no man. Only me." Ralph replied evenly.

"What do you mean, there's no man? There has to be a man. How will we ever get home?" He barked at them.

Anita quietly stepped forward. "I'm Anita, what is your name?"

With a gaze full of contempt he sneered, "You're a girl, aren't you?"

"Well, yes-"

"No kidding, she's a girl. Can't you see?" Lucy said, clearly mockingly, as she did whenever she decided to make fun of those who clearly could see better that she.

"We're going to have a meeting soon." Ralph informed him, "So, come sit."

Piggy was not content to see him leave yet without knowing what he was called and straightening out his glasses, stepped towards him. "We need your name though, we can't keep track of everyone if we don't know their names."

Jack looked down upon him with much more disgust than he did with Anita. "You talk too much, fatty. But I'm Merridew by the way."

The insult sent the crowds below into a frenzy, some even dramatically falling to the ground howling and clutching their abdomens as if they had been stabbed.

Lucy rolled her eyes accordingly. "It wasn't _that _funny."

The laughter died down, but Ralph, blue eyes glinting mischievously just had to say, "His name isn't fatty, it's Piggy!" Piggy sulked at this and ducked out of sight.

And it started up again quickly after that, worse than before. Some of the younger boys even began to chant, "Piggy, Piggy!" a relentless, chortling chorus.

But that too began to die and was replaced with whining from the choir, begging to take their robes off. The line of the choir broke once one of them, a small dark haired boy, fell into the sand.

"Put him over there." Merridew ordered dismissively, as if it happened all the time. "He's always throwing faints." He then went on to describe all of the various times the unconscious boy fell, the choir sharing a few grins amongst themselves, an inside joke the others were not aware of.

"But Jack, we can take our cloaks off, right? They are so heavy." Moans of agreement and approval followed.

"Call me Merridew, I'm not a kid, why use such names!" The redhead stopped for a moment and then gave them the signal to take them off. He started up the pile by throwing his own down, and the others followed.

Ralph finally took control of the situation again by blowing into the conch, a short bleat. "We need to have a chief."

"I should be chief." Merridew said, daring anyone to challenge his authority.

Lucy of course, was the one to do just that and exclaimed rather darkly, "Why?"

"Because I'm the chapter chorister. _And _head boy."

"That doesn't mean anything, I was once head girl last year so I could be the chief."

Merridew threw his arms up and laughed. "Yeah, last year. If you did your job right you'd still be head girl. And besides, you are a girl, and everybody knows girls can't be chief."

The gathering, made up of all boys shouted, agreeing. The only other female was Anita, and she did not want to face the giant crowd.

Furiously, Lucy snarled. "So what! I could make a better chief that you ever could."

Ralph, who never seemed to be able to keep his mouth shut said, "But aren't you blind?"

Lucy fixed him with a death glare and that was enough time for the tall redhead to break down laughing. "You're blind? Are you really?" He choked. Raising his hand, he'd go, "How many fingers am I holding up?" He'd take a step closer, shoving his hand into her face, smirking at his mean spirited jokes.

Anita was quick to chastise him. "That's enough you don't have to-"

Trying to keep her patience, she started straight at him, slightly clouded brown eyes betraying nothing. Very softly she would warn him, "Listen here, _Jack,_" She made sure to put emphasis on his first name, "I don't care how many fingers you are holding up, but if you don't get them out of my face I'll break them."

At this he backed off, the grin on his face faltered but the glint in his gaze remained. If say, little Anita had made such a threat it was unlikely he would have taken it seriously. But Lucy was athletic and tall for a girl her age, almost as tall as himself and when she started throwing around threats like that it was obvious she meant it.

"Let's have a vote for chief." A boy deep within the crowd suggested. Slowly the sea of boys began to nod their heads in unison.

Another exclaimed, "Let's have the boy with the shell!"

Though she kept a straight face, Lucy was rather annoyed with the fact that if maybe she had the conch in the beginning, they might be voting her in, however unlikely it may be. Regardless she raised her hand in favor of Ralph's leadership, knowing the probable alternative would be Jack. Piggy peaked his head out from the tree he was hiding behind and though he did not look happy about it, he too lifted his hand in favor. Most of the others seemed to want the light haired boy as their leader, or chief, as it were, judging by all of the hands high in the air.

"For me now?" The ever impatient Jack growled.

The only ones who raised their hands were the choir, dutifully rather than an actual desire to have him as their chief.

"I guess I'm the chief then." Ralph claimed, rather uneasily after witnessing Jack's hurt expression. Lucy, in a rather childish fit stuck her tongue out at them both behind their backs. Quick to offer a solution to this he told him, "You can lead the choir and they can be whatever you want them to."

As if he had been thinking it over for a long time Jack told him, "Hunters."

"Alright then, that's settled. Now we've got to find out if this is an island or not."

Once he said that, Anita looked around, crossing her arms and observing the vicinity, now that she was up high on the slanted platform it was easier to see. The area they were at did not really seem like the full ocean, for she had been to it once and where they were now was nowhere near as big. This was more like a lagoon, surely if they were to swim too far out they would find themselves in the actual ocean. But the nice sand dunes and trees surrounding the sides made it a quaint swimming area. Farther to what she thought was the north appeared to be a large mountain peaking over immense copse of trees. Everything else appeared to be the jungle.

"I'll go, and Jack and...Simon can come with me."

"Hey, what about me?" Dark haired Lucy requested, rather angry he excluded her.

"Pfft, you can't come!" Jack said dismissively.

Ralph looked conflicted for a moment, but once her fury seemed to increase he gave in. "Alright, fine. Let's go."

The three boys began to make their way down the beach, and she was intent on following them, until Anita latched on to her arm.

"What do you want?" An agitated Lucy demanded of her.

Anita, as equally upset asked, "Can I _talk _to you for a minute?"

Clearly not in the mood, "I don't have time for this-ugh." Turning around to call back to the three boys, "Wait a minute okay?" With that she snatched Anita up and took her to the side, against the tree on the platform. The rest of the group began to run about madly, and nobody noticed as Piggy started to lumber towards Ralph and his group. "Okay, what do you want?"

"You do realize," Anita started mater-of-factly, "That we two are the only girls here?"

"Are you sure?"

This made Anita second-guess herself and she turned out towards the bustling noises below and looked about. "Yup, pretty much."

"Okay, _so?_"

"Well, we don't even know them! Look at all of the colors out there, they all have different uniforms, absolutely none of them are from our area,"

"No kidding, we come from an all-girls school." Came the sarcastic, biting reply.

"Lucy you git, don't you understand that you can't just go off into the unknown with a couple of boys you don't know?"

"Well why not?"

"B-because! It's a dumb thing to do. They are strangers, and it is improper."

"You act like I'm going to go snog them or something. You're being ridiculous."

Clearly fed up, Anita threw her hands up in the air. "Fine, if you get hurt or lost and they decide not to go looking for you, don't come crying to me."

Lucy shrugged, clearly not affected. "Alright." With that she jumped off the platform and followed the boys walking down the expansive strip of sand. Anita, the only one perched atop the coral structure watched her go, eyes glittering with disapproval.

* * *

**See, it's not very good!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you guys for your kind words, whenever I get reviews telling me that the OCs characters are interesting to people and I kept the others in-character, it just makes me so happy. I work so hard on them and try to make them likeable yet flawed and it's so nice to know my characters are appreciated. Also, this is totally unrelated but how does one delete a review that they posted to someone's story? Does anyone know?**

* * *

Once Lucy had caught up to the trio, she realized there was an extra figure there. The width of this shape was much more obvious compared to the others, which could only mean one thing. _Piggy. _

"I was with you before anyone else was. You're letting _her_ go with you. Why not me?" The tone of voice he was using hinted at his misery.

"Look. We have enough...And I already gave you a job, and she doesn't have one. Go take more names, that's what you have to do."

This pain in his voice at being excluded was one familiar to her, even when she was young and the others wouldn't let her play with them, thinking she wouldn't be able to keep up with them. Though the stupid assumptions of children hurt her at first, the pang in her chest was only the beginning of a fire. Needless to say, _most_ of the time she managed to prove others wrong about her.

So when Piggy came pining after them and just whining she could not sympathize. That spark of anger, that determination that should have reminded her of her own self was not present in him and so Lucy could not possibly feel for him.

And that was why she looked to the side when Piggy silently pleaded at her, instead preferring to watch Jack and Simon walk ahead of them, as if they took no notice. _I know you can hear this whole conversation, you unreliable bastards! _

"Go on back. I'm sorry, but you can't come." And with that Ralph turned on his heels and ran, and Lucy picked up speed to follow him, not giving a single thought towards the crestfallen boy they left standing on the shoreline.

* * *

Anita watched Piggy go and come back with his head hanging. It wasn't all that surprising that they didn't allow him to accompany them on their little excursion, but then again they did let Simon go, and he was always 'throwing faints' apparently. Piggy reached the base of the coral stage she still resided on, pushing through the frenzied masses and climbing the structure in a very cumbersome manner.

Seeing as the blond girl was the only one to show him any shred of kindness since they had all found one another, he came straight to talk to her, though quite out of breath._ If something as simple as getting up on this leaves him without his breath, then it was surely a good thing he did not go._ She'd be cordial anyway and offer a greeting. "Hello."

"They left me out." He told her glumly.

Noticing how dismal the pudgy boy seemed, she would say, "Well, they left me out too. And I'm the only girl not allowed to go..." Surely that would make him feel a bit better, right? Even if she was technically the only other girl on the island.

This did seem to cheer him up a bit, and he responded with, "I think that there was another girl, I heard the name Rose being thrown around."

"No, I'm pretty sure that the name was 'Rob' and not 'Rose'."

Piggy tried again. "There could be some younger females. Littluns."

"We both know that isn't true." Anita claimed, as they stood amongst a sea of endless little boys run amok.

"Ralph said we're supposed to take names. Well, that's my job..." Now he did not seem to harbor any hard feelings toward the fair-haired boy they had elected chief.

"Too many to take." Was her comeback, green eyes scanning the throng of wild, writhing bodies; none of which seemed to have any idea of which direction they preferred to go in.

Despite her warning he tottered to the edge of the platform and called to some of the younger ones, hoping they would be more cooperative. Anita went to the lone palm tree and settled down just in time to hear Piggy get showered with insults concerning his weight. "Fatty", "Tubby" and the like.

At that moment, though she was slightly ashamed for having such vain thoughts, Anita was glad she was not fat like him. Looks really meant everything though, or at least everyone acted like it did. So it wasn't like it mattered much if she agreed with the opinions of the general populace. It was expected of her, so why argue?

She then nestled against the tree, the slender strips of grass that grew around it giving her a small shield, like a blanket. Anita took off her warm blazer, folding it neatly to create a makeshift pillow. Now she could only hope that she'd be left in peace long enough to get some sleep.

* * *

They had been traipsing through the tangle of jungle for what seemed like hours now, and Lucy was regretting the decision to ever accompany these gits on this jaunt. Each time Merridew opened his mouth, her desire to strangle him grew. From that desire, Lucy decided that she needed to go back to the site of the plane crash and find her cane. Not because she was having trouble getting around or anything, besides for tripping over that root a few minutes back, which Jack had taken the time to taunt her with.

But no, it she needed it for more...uh, 'conventional' reasons. Like whacking people with it. Often times when she was out and about she delighted in pretending her eyesight was much worse than she let on, so she'd have and excuse to swing it at the legs of strangers when she went wandering the shops and streets. Of course she'd offer up some sort of spurious apology and snicker under her breath once she knew the victim had moved on.

Now they had been going uphill for a long time, but it was just then that Lucy realized that the only way they could get up now was by climbing over the rocks.

"Hey, come over here!" Ralph shouted from above, and they all picked up speed. Ralph managed to get far ahead, and she was cross with him because he was much more athletic than the rest of them, that and the fact he left her with Merridew and the awkwardly quiet boy.

She climbed as quickly as she could, wanting to be the first to witness whatever it was the fair-haired boy had found, but with Jack being ahead already it didn't look like this was possible. But shorter boy whom surely had a name, just one she couldn't be bothered to remember, was behind her and as long as she wasn't in _last _place, well that was good enough. Once she swung her arm up and her fingers clutched soft grass Lucy knew she was on a crag now and pulled herself all the way up.

Ralph and Jack were gaping at a fairly large, gray object. "That's a boulder, right?" Lucy questioned cautiously.

The freckled redhead was too mesmerized to respond with anything but a "yep" so she was pleased not to be met with a sarcastic comment for once. Approaching it, she'd extend an arm and lay her palm upon the rock, the granite under her hand answering her question for her.

It did not take long for Ralph to suggest toppling it over. The prospect of pushing a boulder off a cliff thrilled her and she gave a girlish little hop. _If Anita was here she'd surely slow us down._ The foursome joined together and pressed their hands against it, careful not to use their whole body lest they too end up falling off the ledge.

"One...two...three...Heave!" Ralph shouted.

They did as he commanded.

"One...two...three...Heave!"

Lucy, who remained uncharacteristically quiet up until this point cut in, "Just push the damn thing."

"Alright."

The rock tipped, and that was all it needed for the rest of it to become unbalanced. It was almost as if it was screaming as it fell, the wild noise of trees crunching below was its tortured cry.

The group cheered amongst themselves, and once the buzz of destruction died down they went back to discussing as if nothing even happened.

Ralph was the first to speak. "Shall we climb farther? I still can't tell if we're on an island or not. There's one more ledge up there, lets climb to it." That was just what he began to do.

Lucy stood, gently tapping her foot on the ground until it was her turn to latch onto the wall. Once Jack began to ascend the cliff face she followed shortly after, carefully grabbing onto rocks that jut out awkwardly and were easy to grasp. She was able to do this for some time, trying her best to ignore the wind, it was once a gentle breeze but had since then gotten a lot more ferocious. There was a ledge straight above her head, if only her reach was long enough to grab it. Stretching out her arm, it looked as if her fingers could latch on and so she clamped down.

She was grabbing at air.

With a shriek she slipped, and she had just enough time to think '_I guess I'm going to crack all my bones and die when I fall' _before a freckled arm shot on and pulled her back up to safety. But in her clouded bewilderment she turned on her rescuer. "You were trying to push me off!"

"What the f-" Jack began, but Lucy swung at him, nearly knocking him off balance.

"He was trying to help you!" Ralph called to her from above.

Jack was too busy trying to steady himself to back up the light haired boy's claims, but hearing it from Ralph was enough. "Oh." _I am an awful person._ _He saved my life and I almost knocked him off the wall._

Simon took this opportunity to scramble up to safety with Ralph as quickly as he could, knowing full well what Jack was capable of when he was angry. As he did so, Jack turned to look at her with such wrath in his gaze, an expression on his face that was definitely ugly without silliness. Though Lucy could not make out the features she could practically feel his chagrin.

"Knob-headed git!"

"I'm sorry..." _I'm so terrible. _

"You are the dumbest girl-"

"I'm so sorry..." _I really am. _

"And you remind me exactly of this girl back home, Maria. She was a batty bitch."

Neither Ralph nor Simon came to save her from his tirade, figuring that she deserved it for nearly taking him to his demise.

There was only so much sorrow she could feel before generating a snarky comment. "Well I bet you were the one to drive her batty, poor Maria."

For a moment he looked like he wanted to hit her, but instead stifled that urge and said, "We never speak of this again." Lucy knew full well she should not have shoved him like that, but there was only so much verbal abuse she could take, which wasn't that much to begin with. Regardless she agreed.

"Oh, and you're welcome." He informed her arrogantly.

Almost instantly she retorted, "Damn right I am."

* * *

"So are we on an island or not?" Jack asked Ralph irritably as he made his way to the top.

"Definitely. Water all around."

"It's wizard, isn't it?" Simon questioned in awe.

"Yeah, now let's go back to the others!" Ralph said to them quickly.

"Are you serious? I just got up here." Lucy said, swinging a leg up onto the ledge.

"It's getting dark." Simon pointed out, though he too wanted to stay and marvel at the view. And with that, the descent began.

* * *

A drowsy Anita blinked sleepily, roused from her deep slumber on account of a few water droplets hitting her face.

"Is she dead?" A hurried whisper.

"No, you stupid clot she's just sleeping."

Opening her jade green eyes almost immediately, she looked up to see two boys leaning over her, one with his shirt folded up as if he were carrying something in it. Something wet and trickling out from under the cloth of his shirt. Having just woken up Anita had no idea what it was. The two males on the other hand were shocked to see her arouse so quickly, and the one holding his shirt in a pouch let it go, releasing a waterfall of salty seawater right onto her previously dry head.

"Maurice you knob I told you she was alive!" The lighted haired boy balled his hand up into a fist and hit him on the arm.

The one apparently named Maurice mumbled, "Uh, sorry...miss." And then with that the two of them took off as fast as they could, leaving her with her mouth open like a dead fish and her blonde hair dripping. Anita stayed with that expression on her face for some time, trying to decide exactly what had happened to her.

Eventually she came to terms and leaned her head back against the trunk of the tree and sighed. Piggy was nowhere to be found, the last time she saw him was right before she fell asleep. The person closest to her now was a dark boy, and he was all the way on the other side of the coral platform, swinging his legs off the edge. The moment she decided to stare at him was the same time he turned his head around. As quickly as their eyes met both turned away, clearly embarrassed to have caught one another's gaze.

Not wanting to accidentally look in his direction again, Anita instead focused straight ahead. Most of the boys who had been recklessly running about had retired around the edges of the platform or close to the jungle's edge where the trees casted shadows to save their already scorched skins from the sun. She looked up at the leafy palms on the tree she was under, glad that it protected her from the rays of heat. _Thank God for trees. _

_But it's dark now. _A sharp stab of panic ignited in her. Was Lucy back with the others yet? What if she had fallen off that mountain they said that they would climb, and those boys didn't help her? Not like it was a really tall mountain, it looked rather easy to scale but that didn't mean it was any less dangerous, right? Anita wrung her hands nervously and bit her lip, not wanting to get up and cause a scene. Turning to the left again, to her only option, Anita tried her best to halt her nervous habits and faintly said to the kid on the edge, "Hey. Are they back yet?"

The boy didn't even turn around to face her. "No."

Not wanting to press for more details she thanked him quickly and then drew her hands up to her knees. _How long has it been? The sun was shining when I last remember and now it is just about gone._ She didn't want to be without Lucy, even though she hadn't known her for very long and had much closer friends who were not present, the snarky girl was the one she knew the most out of anybody, and that had to count for something.

Anita did not want to glue herself to this tree and just sleep away the days until they got rescued, but that was what she would most likely do if Lucy didn't come back. She'd be too petrified to attempt to mingle with the others, with the exception of Piggy who was not frightening to talk to, his demeanor and physical condition put him pretty low on the social spectrum and that wasn't intimidating at all.

Everyone else though, the thought of having to have any extended conversation with them seemed like a daunting task to a timid girl like her. Looking out towards the beach, a shiver wracked her frail body once she glimpsed the endless blue ocean, the waves coming in and crashing against the shore.

Wherever it was all of them were dropped in on, they certainly weren't safe. If there were other humans on the island, they would have shown themselves already, and they have not. Anita hadn't even been stranded for a day, and spent the majority of her time sleeping through it, but she already missed her home. She was not able to share the youthful exuberance the others felt at being left to their own devices, not one bit.

* * *

All the drama that had occurred on the mountain was all but dissolved now, the four now having cheerful discussion instead of that brief lapse of awkward tensions and burst of anger. They now trooped through the flora, Simon occasionally stopping to observe a particularly interesting flower or bird that flew over their heads.

It did not take Jack long to get annoyed with Simon stopping every few minutes, and eventually he flipped out his knife and sliced the flower Simon was lovingly gazing at in half with a devilish grin. Ralph looked rather disgruntled, but when Lucy heard the swipe of the knife she too was amused and a bit miffed. _Where did he get a knife from? _All the more reason to find her cane, she didn't want to be weaponless now, knowing the redhead carried a blade with him.

Ever since he pulled out the knife, the rest of them displayed a stony silence for their own individual reasons, and Jack grew cold and unresponsive in return. Group dynamics was a very fickle thing.

They were coming to a dip in the earth, Lucy could feel the terrain sloping under her feet and swiftly kicked a stone down the winding path, trying to gage how steep it was. But the rock, cushioned by the soft plants could barely be heard and so she was left with no clues.

So she stood there, teetering on the edge and unsure of how to approach this. Funny, how she could climb up a mountain and yet remained reluctant about going down a slope. But there was a simple answer to this, for Lucy had lots of practice climbing structures to the point of where it wasn't a difficult endeavor, and in her younger age she had fallen into a creek and almost drowned. _It was terribly embarrassing._ Her older cousin had pulled her out, but ever since then she was rather shaken about such matters.

A gentle hand grasped her wrist, and though she stiffened, Lucy did not jump to conclusions this time and attempt to assault whoever it was. "Here, let me help you." Ralph. He must have noticed her hesitation.

Though she was sure that she could do it when given the time, they didn't have the time and Lucy decided to keep her protests to herself. "Alright..."

Jack did not seem pleased with this new development and sent the pair a frown they would not witness, too busy trying make their way down.

Ralph kept a light hold on her, which she appreciated and yet and the same time she ached to be free of his grasp. At times she would pause and he'd slowly coax her to keep moving, trying to be as understanding as possible. Once he had escorted her to the bottom he paused before breaking off from her, just in time to see Simon hold up his hand.

"Did you hear that?"

Lucy just shrugged. "Hear what?"

"Sshhh!" Though confused, they followed Simon anyway out of curiosity, wondering what exactly he was so worked up about. But they to began to hear it, the closer they came. It was a squealing noise, that of a panicked animal. Predictably, Jack reached for his knife again and held it out. What they unearthed was a stuck piglet, pickers gouging into the soft baby flesh as it squealed for mercy.

Lucy could tell by the frantic squealing just what kind of animal the soft brown shape was, and they swiftly decided to surround it, but when they did it was almost as if they had no idea what they were going to do. Jack held his knife, desperately wanting to sink it into flesh but something was holding him back. That same thing that was holding him back was what allowed the piglet to escape, bursting from the weeds and back into the jungle, deep into the unknown. The fear of blood was what held him back, they all knew this but refused to comment.

"I-I was looking for a place to stab is all." Jack informed them shakily.

"You're supposed to a stick a pig though, I thought."

"No, slicing the throat makes the meat still fresh to eat. I'll get it next time!" So in Jack Merridew burned a fierce determination, one so strong none of the others dared to challenge it with their doubt.

* * *

Once Anita saw the mop of long dark hair whipping in the chilly evening breeze as four figures made their way down the beach she was immensely relieved. Most of the boys who had toaken solace in the shelter of trees were beginning to stir again, and Anita slid off the platform and moved as quickly as she could without running so she wouldn't get caught in the crowd of boys. When she finally came close enough to Lucy the two joined arms and hugged one another swiftly.

"What took so long?" She chided.

"Oh you know. We were exploring."

The three boys who had accompanied her melted into the crowd and so the two were free to catch up with one another. Anita led her to the tree she had been under, so she could get a rest, sure Lucy was tired and thirsty after running around all day. Now all that was left to do was relax.

Though everyone had already gathered, Ralph blew the conch anyway and gave them his announcement. "We're alone. No cars, boats, or people. Just water all around. This is an island."

"We need an army for hunting pigs." Jack informed the group. _Pigs? What? _She turned to Lucy expecting answers but instead found her with a sleepy look on her face and decided to just wait for answers. Taking her blazer, she was able to drape it over the two of them and create a sort of makeshift blanket.

"Oh yes, there are also pigs on the island." The blond haired boy told them, quickly regaining hold of the conversation.

"I almost got one too! Next time, I swear-" Jack scowled, daring anyone to disagree with him.

Anita found his violent statement to be rather off putting. When he took out a blade and gouged it into the tree trunk she and Lucy were sitting under, she jumped a little, frightened.

Lucy of course, with not a single meek bone in her body went, "Watch it, will you?" But her demands went unheard.

Ralph went on about other things after the whole hunting incident, going on about subject after subject until even Anita was getting bored of his talk.

It was then a small boy was picked out from the crowd by his surrounding peers, ushered to the front and the little boy cowered amongst the crowd. Anita could sympathize with him. _Poor dear, having to face everyone. _

"Okay then, spit it out." Ralph urged, grasping the conch.

Anita then saw Piggy, whom she had lost earlier in the day, leaning down and trying to urge information out of the boy. Most of the older ones rolled their eyes and showed a genuine disinterest, sure that whatever this littlun had to say, it wasn't all that important.

"He wants to know what you are going to do about the beast."

Anita blinked in surprise at the unexpected phrase that came from Piggy's mouth. _What...? _A heavy silence, like a dark cloud, began to loom over them.

* * *

**It is almost 2 a.m and I am so done done done. Hope you enjoyed this chapter anyway. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright so guess what I saw half of 'The Breakfast Club' and it was pretty good. I didn't get to see the whole thing though. Unfortunate. Except it is on tomorrow so you know what I'll watch it again. Thanks to 100reasonswhy for the review, and also, thanks to those of you who follow this story. **

* * *

There was an extended pause amongst the congregation, in which Anita took the time to wonder exactly long she had been out. If there was actually a beast, surely it would have caused commotion, and it had not. _Just silly children and their vivid imaginations, that's all. _However, she did not voice this opinion. The crowd took care of that, though be it in a much more undignified manner, cracking up with glee at the child with the birth-mark who had been forced to speak on behalf of his peers. Their raucous outbursts reminded her of how they had all made fun of Piggy mere hours ago.

Piggy himself was in the middle of the crowd, urging them to give the little one the time of day, shouting at them to, "give him the conch, give it to him!" And once this was achieved Piggy promptly translated for them. "He wants to know what you're going to do about the snake thing." The bespectacled boy turned to Ralph expectantly.

"What snake thing?"

Piggy looked down at the child and revised his sentence. "Now he says it's a beastie , a snake beast ever so big. He saw it in the woods. It comes out at night." _It is night right now and I don't see anything._

All as one they turned to face the jungle, searching for signs of danger. Anita could see why they would get so worked up over this, it was dark now and much harder to see and tell what was what.

"Stupid." Lucy told them, though on the verge of falling asleep she still had enough consciousness to let everyone know her thoughts. Sometimes Anita envied her, knowing that if she was as outspoken she could express her thoughts in a much more elegant way than anyone on this island. _Maybe they would listen. _

Ralph turned back towards the two of them and Anita expectantly shirked under his gaze while Lucy gave him a dazed glare.

Gripping the conch he now repossessed he reassured the littluns, "Yes...Besides, you only get..._things_ like that in large countries like India, or Africa. Nothing on an island this size, so you must have just had a nightmare."

Jack suddenly came up behind him and usurped the conch. _At least he is respecting the rule._ "Ralph is right. We've been in there-" He stopped to point. "And haven't seen a single beast, but if there was one we could hunt and kill it, and then there wouldn't be a beast any longer."

Ralph ached to be heard this time, "But there isn't a beast in the first place, so we needn't hunt and kill anyway." For emphasis, "I'm telling you, there isn't a beast!"

Piggy, who for once somehow managed to make his way up to the platform took the shell and informed them, "We aren't getting to the most important thing. Nobody knows we're here. They knew where we were going, but not where we ended up, so how are we going to get rescued?"

Anita had thought of this before but hadn't the answer for them.

"This is a good island though, we have food and water here while we wait. It will be fun, like stories in novels." They all at once began to call out names of books that she had never heard of before, assuming quite correctly that they were just adventure books for boys, but Lucy would occasionally grumble, "That was a rubbish book." Or something similar.

"Maybe my father will even come get us, he is in the Navy. But we'll have to have a signal fire if we want to be found in the first place." His words seemed to both calm and encourage the boys below.

Jack grew even more excited and shouted, "Let's go to the top of the mountain now!"

"You don't have the conch, Merridew!" Lucy shouted at him accusingly, though it was obvious she really couldn't care either way.

"Neither do you!" After all, Jack was too excited at the prospect of leading a horde up the mountain than to partake in pointless banter with her and so he commanded sharply, "Follow me!" They stirred and then hurriedly took themselves up the mountain with Jack at the head of the pack. _There is no way I'm going up there just to stand around watching them start fires and act horrid. _

"Lucy, no." She said to her as the brunette tried to get to her feet.

Ralph and Piggy tried to call them back, waving the creamy conch all around, but their beacon of authority went on unnoticed, everyone was too far away now for the light of civilization to have any effect.

Giving up, Ralph set down the shell. "Come on then." He called to the two females, waving them over with his hand. "Let's go." He did not give Piggy an invite, who was too busy staring at the conch in a despondent manner to notice.

Anita wasn't as shaken when faced with only the two of them opposed to the crowd, but she still couldn't say much to the handsome boy watching her with anticipation, as it usually goes. "Uh...Lucy is too tired, I think."

"No I'm not." The girl in question waved off her concerns.

Anita leaned in as closely as she could and firmly hissed, "_Yes, _you are." _Go away now, Ralph. _

Ralph, dismissing their hushed conversation as nothing more than girlish talk decided to leave them to it. "Alright, I'll be going then. So long."

Into the jungle and up the mountain Ralph went, with Piggy trailing behind muttering with disdain, "Just like a crowd of kids."

* * *

Once they were sure that they were alone, Lucy lashed out like a small child being denied candy, "Why'd you have to do that?" _I wish she'd just fall asleep already so she'd stop being so immature. Well, more than she usually is. _"I wanted to go too."

"Well, it's better that we don't."

"How come?" The dark haired one asked with a sort of skeptical intellect. "It's not like we can't have fun too. Even the little ones went up there."

"It's not about having fun." Anita wondered briefly about the younger ones who had went to the mountain, especially of the boy with the birthmark. He was the one who started all of this talk about snakes and beasts in the first place.

"You're not going to start up with this whole, 'it's indecent' nonsense again are you?" Lucy accused.

"It's not about being indecent..."

"I don't like it down here."

"You liked it just fine ten minutes ago. The fact that we argued over this for so long is pathetic." Anita told her sharply, she knew she was being bossy, but if she didn't pester Lucy then she would be left here all alone, and that would be frightening. Not because of a beast of course, she just didn't like being the only one out on the beach. Yeah.

With nothing left to say Lucy retorted, "Well, you started it. Hey, it looks like they finally made the fire." She pointed a bony finger in the direction of the mountain, where the majority of the males had fled. It seemed to knock her out of her tired spell, somewhat.

Glad to have moved on from their dumb quarrel, Anita quickly inquired, "How did they manage to light something that big?"

"How should I know, matches probably."

The two sat side by side, watching the red glow of the flame atop the mountain grow. It did not take long until they were chattering about it again.

"It's...very impressive." Anita began uneasily.

"I suppose." Though her dull tone gave away nothing, Lucy's wide eyed stare made it obvious she was rather enthralled by the flame.

"Do you think they got hurt by the flames?" She pressed worriedly.

"Oh, no, they're probably fine. And if not I guess we get the island to ourselves. Well, whatever is left of it."

"Why must you be so vulgar? You're like a boy."

Lucy, who was clearly not attached to the others enough to the point of where any of their respective deaths would upset her whined, "Why must you be so patronizing all the time? I don't even care." With that she turned her back on Anita and curled into a laying position, pulling a section of the blazer over her shoulder for warmth. Deciding to drop the subject, the blond girl sighed and leaned her head back against the trunk of the tree.

Minutes passed, but not many, before the crowd came out of the jungle and swarmed the beach. The fire seemed to have died down, but not by much, and the general mood seemed to have faltered. By a lot. Anita observed them as they took their respective spots in the clearing and settled down to sleep, noticing the birth-mark boy was nowhere to be found, and she swiftly refocused her gaze on Ralph. He held the conch limply by his side, his fair hair falling into his face and obscuring his features. He gracefully vaulted up onto the platform and set the creamy shell down nicely, before sitting.

Close enough to enquire what had happened up there on the mountain without drawing attention to herself she hissed at him, "Ralph." She had a feeling something had happened up there, she just didn't know what.

"What."

Unsure of how to phrase this, she began, "That was a big fire." The aforementioned blaze was beginning to shrink, she noted, as the strip of fiery light slipped into the ocean waters.

"Bigger than we intended." He commented warily.

"I can see that."

He scowled, but she was too pleased that she was able to keep this conversation going for this long to take notice of his displeasure and began to chide, "Surprising none of you got injured, I can't imagine what you were thinking building a fire that large, surely ships will be able to see smoke even from a more reasonable sized flame, and where is the boy with the birthmark?" Quieter now, as she had not expected to get this far without getting shy or cutting off the conversation, mumbled, "I've been meaning to ask someone that."

"We don't know."

Perturbed by this, she prompted very slowly, "What do you mean...?"

"There were some littluns playing further down the mountain."

At once she understood what he was implying and turned mute again, but not for long. Trying to think of the crudest way to put her sentence she would say, "So you just let them burn." _You should be ashamed. What kind of leader are you, letting them die like that. _Anita wanted to say this to him to express her sorrow at loosing the children, though she could never be brave enough to do that, and instead had to result to deceitful remarks, trying to draw out of him the same feelings she had.

Swiftly he came to his own defense and told her sharply, as if holding in his patience, "You weren't there."

Anita too, felt bitter and retorted, "Yes, because if I were I wouldn't have let them die."

Ralph lost his calm demeanor for a moment and flared, "You shut up, Piggy didn't count all of the littluns so nobody even knows how many we have in the first place."

His first words were fierce enough to stop her and with a simple, "Fine." She ceased talking and turned away to lay down and get more sleep.

* * *

Lucy woke at dawn, lazily blinking the sleep from her eyes. It did not take long for her to realize how thirsty she was. _We might as well get searching for water. And my cane._ Licking her slightly chapped lips she eased up into a sitting position and observed the surroundings before her. Far off into the distance towards the mountain, smoke swirled up from the forest onto the pinks and blues of the sky. It was rather serene, she had to admit. The others slept below, burrowing into the sand and using their blazers or cloaks as blankets. Those who had lost theirs did without.

Looking to the side she saw Anita sleeping, most of her blazer pulled over her, a portion still draped across Lucy's legs. She had no qualms about attempting to wake the other girl up and began to nudge her. "Hey you, wake up."

"Wha-" Painfully slowly the blond one put her head up and stared at her in a daze.

"Come on, let's go find some stuff." She prompted.

"What kind of stuff?"

"I want my cane."

"I thought you lost it to the sea when half the plane went down..."

"No."

"I thought you said you didn't need it-"

"No. Let's go." With that Lucy stood and held her hand out to help her stand. Thankfully the other girl ceased protesting and she was quick to offer incentive. "There are fruits and things in the jungle too, we can get something to help the thirst. There's probably water as well."

That was enough to get the smaller female moving, and so they carefully tip-toed around the other sleeping bodies and went into the jungle.

* * *

The two walked side by side as they gnawed upon a yellowish-orange fruit they had found. It was sickly ripe and sweet, but it brought moisture to their dry mouths and filled their stomachs so they were able to excuse the overwhelming flavor.

As they walked the events of last night were still fresh in her mind, Anita said, "They lost some of the littluns during the fire." She was half expecting Lucy to wave it off or make some kind of morbid quip about the situation.

Instead, all the tall girl said was, "Oh" her stick straight hair fell into her face, obscuring her visage. Anita found herself glad for this, though she did not know the children personally it made her very squeamish that such a dreadful accident had happened so soon, who knew how long they would be stuck here. _How many more mishaps will there be? _She hoped there wouldn't be a lot.

They came to a smaller dip in the earth and the fair haired girl immediately came to Lucy's aid, clutching her arm and easing her down the hill just like she had done plenty times before.

Anita looked around at the smashed undergrowth and occasional broken tree, the destruction seemed to start where they stood, a long, straight path sprawled out ahead of them. "Lucy, I think we are in the scar." That was what they had taken to calling it, after hearing the others refer to it in the same way the fitting name sort of stuck.

"I think so too..." She confirmed, and promptly turned on her heels and scrambled down the broken trail.

Not bothering to request she slow down, Anita picked up her own pace, figuring the quicker they got this done the quicker they could return to the beach clearing.

Once she had caught up to Lucy she found the girl scrounging furiously through the wreckage, a small metal portion of the plane looming above her. There clearly wasn't much to be found here, but that did not discourage Lucy. "I can't find it!"

"I'm sure it will turn up-"

"How am I supposed to whack people with it if I can't find it!?" The dark haired girl wailed.

"You'll find-" Anita narrowed her eyes at the last sentence. "Wait, what?"

Waving it off she would exclaim, "Oh nothing. Just help me look."

Carefully maneuvering over the luggage strew across the jungle floor, she hid her exasperation well. There was no reason, or at least no _sane _reason for them to go digging around wreckage to find something Lucy didn't really need. It didn't feel right going through the luggage of strangers but she knew that the dark haired girl would never leave until they found the cane, so be it. Hesitantly she swept piles of suitcases and bags aside, hoping to find what she was looking for.

Hearing a scrabbling noise behind her, the green eyed girl turned to see her companion trying to climb into the plane structure. Half of her body was up in the tilted air-craft, one hand gripping a piece from the outside, a slender leg dipping down, dangling in the air.

"You're going to hurt yourself." She called out, figuring it would have no effect but tried anyway.

From within the plane the other girl shouted, "I think I found it!"

"...Really?"

"It feels like it!"

There was more banging and scraping noises from inside, and eventually Lucy's leg disappeared completely. A little shriek, and a mere moment later she fell from the opening she had crawled into and was gasping on the floor, holding something long to her chest.

Always quick to panic, Anita fell to her knees and frantically asked, "Are you hurt?"

Instead, sprawled out on the floor she held up her catch, a thin walking-stick with some kind of silver coloured bird carved out of the handle, though it clearly looked as if she were rather hurt she wouldn't say anything and just grin up at her with a dazed look.

In a moment of rare sarcasm, the blond girl said, "Well, glad to see you're okay."

"I'm really not though." Lucy said, groaning slightly. Instantly, Anita was there to help her to her feet and guided her to higher ground. Once they were up and out of the scar she took her to a protruding rock amongst the weeds and the two sat down together.

"I think I'm going to need a minute or two."

"Take as long as you need." She replied dutifully.

Laying her head in her hands, Lucy tried not to show she was in pain, falling that far would take her some time to get over. Regardless, she wanted to start conversation.

"How do you...feel...?" _Not the best way to phrase that, but oh well._

Anita, who was staring off into the jungle turned back to face her friend. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"This island..." _There has been barely enough time to talk since we dropped in. _Lucy wouldn't bother actually telling Anita this, figuring the fact she decided to converse with her in the first place would be enough.

Immediately her retort was, "I don't like it."

"Why?" It was not a question meant to tease or intimidate, more one borne out of pure curiosity.

Considering this carefully, she would come up with, "Because we are alone on an uninhabited island, and for all I know, we could be stuck here for a very long time."

"So you don't like being_ on_ the island, just because you don't know how long it's going to take until we get _off_ the island?"

Stiffly Anita prodded, "It is a legitimate concern, is it not?"

"Why can't you ever just learn to go along with things? Learn to...enjoy stuff?" Dragging her foot through the grass and dirt she sighed.

"This won't be an enjoyable experience, that's why."

"It could be though, if you let it. This is a fun place to be, we've got everything we could need."

Reproachfully now, "You're starting to sound like Ralph. He is always going off about how good this place is going to be. You might think that it's all fun and games at first, but you'll get bored, everybody will get bored and there won't be anybody to save us from it. I thought you wanted to travel, how are you going to do that when we're stuck on an island, slowly going mad?"

"Well...I'll enjoy my sanity while I still have it!" Inspired now, Lucy leapt to her feet, cane in hand.

"Where are you going?" Anita yelled after her. "Do you feel better already?"

"Yes!"

"You're going the wrong way. Everybody is back near the platform."

"I'm going to go exploring. Bye!" Skirting around the crash so she would not have to dip down into the scar again, she flounced off into the wilderness, swinging her cane with her.

Knowing anything she said would fall on deaf ears, Anita just turned in the opposite direction and hoped that the other girl would be back in an hour or so.

* * *

Though some part of Lucy did enjoy Anita's company, the prospect of aimlessly wandering deep in the jungle was much more appealing. There was much more to the island than the places they had been, and as long as she could find her way back to the plane crash, which wouldn't be difficult, she'd know her way.

The sun had soared high into the sky now, and even though she was under the protection of the tall trees, slices of light still peaked through. Birds once again began to sing, when they had been silent hours earlier. Sometimes she would swing her walking stick at the hanging plants, battering them around just for fun. There didn't seem to be any large sources of fresh water, she came upon a small pool earlier, but already satiated with the fruit from earlier, Lucy didn't bother to drink from it.

Gradually, the blades of grass that licked at her ankles became sparse and the terrain under her feet, beat down. Stretched out before her was a slim brown trail, and at once she decided to follow it. It was a long winded, twisted path, so unlike the giant wreck the plane had made, a straight scar clawed into the earth. Surveying her surroundings, a flash of red caught her eye. There was something alive far off, backed up behind a tree.

Even with her poor eyesight, the pale flesh and shock of orange hair gave it away. _Merridew, of course. _It agitated her to know he was out here too, doing who knows what. Though it would be quicker to just scream at him, he appeared to be crouching, as if he was trying to hide himself from something, and she wanted to know what. So Lucy, determined to take the quiet approach, edged around his position amongst the tree until she was right behind him. From there she moved in, knowing full well she was making plenty of noise to alert him that she was coming. If he was too stupid to notice well it was his own fault.

So caught up in his activity amongst the plants he did not realize her presence even with her being closer, Lucy realized that he had some sort of stick in his hand. _A sharpened spear, looks like. _Casually placing her palm on the head of the cane, she'd lean back and balance on it, a lazy smirk beginning to appear on her face. Knowing it would shock him out of his concentration she'd bark, "Ay' Merridew."

As to be expected he leapt to his feet, dropping his makeshift spear, and something else within the bushes broke from them and scurried away amongst the undergrowth.

Angrily he turned on her. "What did you do that for!?"

Shrugging as if she had no idea what he was talking about, she'd exclaim, "I thought you would be happy to see me."

"Can't you see I'm busy?" His eyes, blue and like chips of ice narrowed.

Lucy scoffed. "No."

"I'm sick of your cheek."

"We've known each other for one day, Merridew. _One_ day. There is much more where that came from."

A sudden flash of fury erupted from him. "I was close to getting a pig and you had to come along and ruin it, clear off you daft git." He then plunged his knife blade into the trunk of a tree which prompted her to back off.

"We could go find the pig if you want."

Determined to be resentful towards her, he would sneer, "No. You already ruined everything."

"Fine." Lucy stalked past him, though it did not take him long to catch up to her and the two walked side by side, saying not a single word to one another on their journey back to the beach. The dark haired girl could once again feel the earth becoming steep again, and far off to her left she could see the silver of the plane parts scattered further down. Once again she had found herself at the mouth of the scar, standing at its edge.

Instead of the confidence she usually carried, Lucy stood there with both hands balancing on her walking stick, hair blowing about in her face. _I can't go down, I don't think. Going around would take too long and then he'd never let me hear the end. _The freckled boy looked as if he were about to jump down, but instead took note of her delay and attempted to provoke her. "Scared?"

Not wanting to look like a coward she snapped, "No!" Even though it was clearly a lie.

Jack took his spear and through it across the wide expanse of the scar, the sharp end embedding somewhere in the earth. "Alright you nancy, I'll help you." Though it was an insult usually reserved for males he knew it would annoy her, then came to her and scooped her up in his arms and carefully descended.

Lucy did not protest, gripping her cane in her hand and then wrapped one arm around his neck. _He doesn't have to do all this..._

"Why'd you vote for Ralph, and not me?" He asked her suddenly.

Though the question came out of nowhere, she answered honestly. "Because he wasn't you, that's why." In the very beginning during the first gathering he had done nothing but ridicule her, and though now she might have considered other options, first impressions stuck and Ralph seemed like a much better leader than Jack at the time.

"I could still drop you, you know." Jack told her dryly. Her only response was to tighten her grip around his neck. Though it seemed as if he was joking, considering his earlier violent behavior, her response most likely served to infuriate him further. No matter what reason she'd give him, not a single one counted as a good excuse to not vote him as chief as far as Jack was concerned. Loosing to Ralph made him bitter from the start and that was fact.

Once they made it through he gently set her down on her feet and shifted his already torn shirt a bit then went to retrieve his spear and head back to the beach, the exchange they had minutes ago would just become one of many they would vow never to speak of again.

* * *

**I am ashamed it took me like a full week to write this, there is no way I'm getting this story done by August haha. **


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